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ConscrriUaa Resources 
Lig-Frec® Type I 



E 450 
.H31 
Copy 1 



L E T T K R 



OF 



HON. TIIOS. L. IIARIMS, 



OF ILLIXOIS, 



CPO.V 



THE REPEAL 



or 



THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 



WASHINGTOX: 

FRIITTED HY JNo. T. TOWERS 

1851. 



'HZ I 



L E T T i: R 



House of Rf.prkhentatives, 

Washington, /««««/•// 13, 19')!. 

Siu : On rcacliiiig this city a few ilays since, after a short ahsi'iice, I 
found await inij inc a letter from you, accompanied hy a petition for the 
repeal of the fugitive slave law. The jx-tition reads thus: 

"The uiiilcrsi^niil, citizens of Illinois, most cnrncntly petition tho Honorable Representatives 

in Congrrss assiunhlcd, for the immediate and unconditional repeal of the late fugitive slave law, 

because in our judgment it is a most palpable violation of the law of God, of the Constitution of 

our country and State, and ot eternal principles of right and duty, and thus your petitioners will 

Evzn rnAT." 

Signed by M. Ni MILES, and twenty-eight others. 

Your letter reads as follows : 

"Hon T. L. HAnnis: 

Sik: I have obtained a few names in this vicinity to the petition — not a tythc of what I might 
if I could have alVorded the time. Five sixths of all the voters of this region will sign tliis peti- 
tion, including every good and honest and religious man in tho community. All religious men 
feel it to be an unwarrantable interference with the rights of conscience, and that by obeying this 
law we still must violate the Constitution, which declares, that no person shall be deprived of hia 
liberty except by due process of law, which is most elTectually prevented by the provisions of the 
late law. No act ever passed by the American Congress, since the old alien and sedition laws of 
the elder Adams, has awakened such deep abhorrence in the minds of good law abiding citizens. 

Yours truly, 

Metamoua, December 12, 1850. M. N. UTILES. 

As an addenda, you say, "the original names you will find with ]\[r. 
Shields — some of them I write myself at their retjuest/' 

Such is the letter, and such the petition. They are the first of the 
sort wiiich I have received. I hope they will be the last. What you 
expect or desire me to do with these things 1 know not. You niake no 
request, nor intimate any purpose, in sending them to me. It is not an 
original petition, but a copy of one which I have not seen, and have no 
desire to see. Neither modifications nor amendments will answer your 
purpose. There must be "an immediate and unconditional rcpcaV of 
the entire law, to relieve you of your " deejt abhoi-n nre," and permit 
your " conscience" once more to be disenthralled. Now, sir, it is easy to 
see what manner of man you are, if not your design, in sending me these 
precious papers. My opinion is, that the law referred to is a law neces- 



sary to enforce one of the guaranties of the Constitution of the United 
States. 1 am opposed to its-j-epeal, because its repeal would be unjust ; 
and in the present state of public feeling at the South, it would be fol- 
lowed bv civil discord, in its most disastrous form. I have, therefore, 
some ''conscience" in the matter, as well as yourself. Under all the cir- 
cumstances, therefore, and as I have no opportunity to present it on the 
floor of the House, and express my opinions in regard to it, I return you 
the scrap of paper, on which you have written both petition and letter, 
to use lor any purpose that to you may seem good. If, hereafter, you 
ha^"e any connnunication of that sort to make to Congress, you would 
do well to select some other agent. 

I might stop here, but the tone of your letter and the character of 
the petiiion, lead me to remark further. A few years ago our country 
was undisturbed by any excitement upon the subject of slavery. The 
same causes which had extinguished it at the North, were operating to 
produce a like result in several of the Northern slave States. In Dela- 
ware, Maryland, and Vii'ginia, there was, in the ten years preceding 
1840, a decrease of more than 84,000 slaves. Indications were manifest, 
that the philanthropy and sound policy of the age, combined with na- 
tural causes, in the absence of all legislation, would gradually, but with 
certainty, work the extinction of slavery. Political Abolitionism began 
its career, and these indications have been constantly growing less. The 
slaves have been, in consequence, more closely restricted, and more harshly 
dealt with; and I see now the day of their liberation more distant, than 
it seemed eighteen years ago. The efforts of the Abolitionists have, 
thus far, been a curse to the negro, and a curse to the countr5\ They 
have retarded the day of emancipation — they have divided the country 
into sections, and produced an alienation of feeling between the North 
and South, the thought of which, gives pain to every true-hearted man 
in the nation. In consequence of the proceedings of these pretended 
friends of the negro, I see very little prospect of the area of slavery 
being dinilnislied soon, to any extent, unless by such a course as mad- 
men oidy would pursue. If any considerable manumission of slaves is 
hereafter to take place, it will be upon condition of their removal to 
Africa. But will you give a dollar for that purpose ? You can show 
any qua:itity of sickly sympathy in letters and petitions, but how much 
sympathy will you show out of your {)ocket? I venture, that not a dime 
could be squeezed out of you for any such purpose. 

What is the history of this abolition movement ? It has reached its 
present influence by fraud — by corrujition — by coalitions for place and 
power by men who care no more lor a negro slave than for a hippopo- 
tamos. And these base combinations are still kept up, and so they will 
be, amouL' men who lack sense and honesty. Political Abolitionism be- 
gan more than twenty years ago. It had the untjuestioned ability to 
keep itself beneath contc-nipt, until intriguing and dishonest politicians 
cauglit at it ; not because they cared a lig about negroes or slaves, but 
because they judged it contained an element which they could agitate, 
and promote their own elevation. They, from corrupt motives, joined 
the cry of Abolitionism, and without these, it never would have reached 



ihf tlit,'uily of Millerism, tlm iiuiiiia for Morus Multicniilis, or lh«i lluch- 
estpr kiiockiiifis. 

N;itiv<! Anicricniiisni was .1 cnusiii ^'oniiain to Abolilioiiism; Ijut it so 
liappnuul, that in those r«'^iotis wlieiv hiirnlnif^s do most llourish, a 
lar;::(' iorcitrn population was found, and as this population liad voters, 
this otl"sho(tl of ihr huiiihnfj family was found unprolilaMc, and waa 
aI)an(iont'd. Had this Ibrrii^h population been srttlod in iIh; South(;ra 
.States, so that their voles eould not directly reacli the agitators of that 
Cjuestion who liirured so conspicuously a 1\'W years ago, tin* .Native 
Auieriean church-hiu'ners would hav(? been to-day more powerful than 
Abolition barn-burners. Even anti-masonry beat it for a time all hol- 
low. It carried one State of the Union in the Presidential contest of 
1S.'J'2, while no Abolition candidate ibr that office, not even Martin Van 
Buren, with all his craft, eunninir. and corruption was able to do as 
much. But I am not disposed to underrate the power of the Abolition- 
ists. They have {)ut the Tnion in peril, not l)y the force of tlu'ir ari^u- 
meuts, but by base aliiliations with political hacks and demago-^ucs. I 
hope the danjrer is ]iast. 

I believe a chanj^^e has been goinc; on in the |)ul)lic mind at the North — 
a change that will crush those unholy aliiliations and factions, and re- 
sult favorably to the peace and happiness of the country. What is 
this change ? Every one knows that in LSIS the Cass Democrats of the 
Xorlh were the only op])oiients there of the Wilmot proviso. Every 
^^hig speech was an argument in favor of prohibiting slavery in the Ter- 
ritories by j)ositivt« law, and the people were urged to vote for General 
Ta) lor, a holder ot' some three hundred negro slaves, because it was de- 
clared he would not veto the proviso. It was on this grounil that Mr. 
Webster, after declaring in his jManslield speech that the nomination of 
General Taylor for the Presidency '' irns a nurninalion lluit xcas not fit to 
have been m(nk\' still advocated his election. He .*aid that the Butl'alo 
platform was a good one, with the exception of a few rotten planks. In 
his Abington sj)eech he declarctl that, the Whigs "were just as good 
anti-slavery men and frecsoil men as the barn-burners." And he claimed 
it as particularly creditable to the Whig party that it was so. After 
speaking of the annexation of Texas, he said : 

'•By this time the elForU of the Whigs alone had raised a strong cxcitemcut in the North 
against the annexation of slave territory. I say the Whigs alone, for nobody belonging to the 
other party, North or South, Enst or West, stirred a finger in that cause; or if there were any, 
they were so few as not to be discernible in the mass, until the Whigs of New England, Ohio, 
and other Middle States, had accomplished a great excitement, a new feeling in the public mind. 
And then this portion of the Democracy of New York, now denominated the bam burning party, 
seized upon this state of excitement ihiia brought al)0ut by \\'hig effort, and attached thia princi- 
ple to their creed, to give them a pre-eminence over their rivals." 

He, in his Faneuil Hall speech shortly after, advised the Whigs to go 
for Gen. Taylor "as a security against the slave power.'' The ^\ hig 
orators at the North, everywhere, so far as I have learned , pursued the 
same course, descanted upon the enormities of slavery, and upon the 



saving efficacy of the " Wilinot," which the ])eople were told would uu-" 
doub'edly pass Congress, .and as General Taylor would not veto any bill 
which Con,2,-rcss might pass, I'estricting slavery, he was the man \\ hom 
they were iold they ought to support. This w^as the case in our own 
region. The Whig presidential electors, with Lincoln, Yates, and others, 
made strong efforts to convince the Van Buren men of the lolly of voting 
for him, /^ecr///.ve there was no possibility of his election ; their votes if 
cast for him would be thrown away, while by voting for General Taylor 
they could accomplish just as much in restricting or abolishing slavery 
as by voting for Van Buren, and by voting for General Taylor his elec- 
tion 'might be secured. Who is there that does not recollect this course 
of the Whig leaders? But they went further than this. Fourteen dif- 
ferent Northern State legislatures, (all but that of Iowa) passed resolu- 
tions, in some form or other, in favor of restricting slavery, and most of 
them for abolishing it in this District. And not a solitary Whig ica.s there 
in cither of these legislatures, (as far as I can learn,) but voted in their 
favor. Tliese Whig leaders quite took the wind out of the sails of the 
free-soil, A^an Buren, Abolition part)^ and out Wilmoted Wi'lmot himself. 
Let us look at their position now, and inquire whether 1 am correct 
in the opinion already expressed, that a change has taken place in pub- 
lic sentiment at the North on this question. I allude not to the Demo- 
cratic party, who supported a candidate for the Presidency pledged 
against any and all legislation interfering Vvith slavery, but to that par- 
ty at rhe North which supported the successful candidate. How stands 
that party, and vv4iat course has its leaders pursued ? General Taylor 
was inaugurated March 5th, 1849. He found himself in an equivocal 
position. At the South he had been urged before the people as pledged 
to veto any bill passed by Congress interfering with slavery. At the 
North he had been advocated for being opposed to the exercise of the 
veto power, and as willing to acquiesce in any such legislation. If Con- 
gress, then, should pass a bill containing a ])rohibition of slavery in the 
Territories, what was he to do? Should he approve it, he would be 
everywheie in the South denounced as a traitor to them. Should he 
veto it, his party at the North would be shattered into iragments. Like 
the slavers from the coast of Africa, he attempted the "middle passage," 
as least dangerous. Out of character, as it was for him, he, or his cabi- 
net for him, attempted to shirk a responsibility which was judged to be 
too foj-midable to assume. It was proposed to let the Territories remain 
in anarchy, or subject only to military rule, until they should become 
organized as States. This was an attempt to evade the question which 
had placed the administration in powei-, and that, too, by approving mil- 
itary governments in the Territories in time of peace, while ibr doing the 
same thing in time of tear, Mr. Polk had been denounced by the leaders 
of the Whig j^arty, without stint and without measure. This policy of 
General Taylor met the open condemnation of Mr. Clay in a speech in 
the Senate. He said he could not see how any Whig could possibly sus- 
tain such a course. Here was danger again ; a danger which threatened 
the total overthrow of the power of the administration. In the mean 
time, the excitement in the country had assumed an alarming aspect. 
It was apparent to every observer that something must be done, and 



timt tlic (]ursii(»n imist ho self led in soinr iii(»<Ir or oilier. Tlicn it wa« 
that Mr. Wc'l).st('r, wlio had clainiod to ho thi* iiivotiior of'tho proviso — 
tho tiuN'hrtiiio \vh() had f<itisti-(!r|( d ihr aiiti- lavorv phiifortn— -tlu- vory 
cdoud out of which had isvurd )hc lirsr, rurrihhiiKN ol' thr pioviho ihun 
dor — came forward to (hssijiatc that ck)iid, th-mohsh th« phitforin, iind 
repudiate tho iiivoiitioii of his own ponius. He put tlic " Wihnol" to 
scorn l)eforo tho American Sonato and tho American pooph-, and sup- 
ported with all his intcdh^clual power, (and no man has ^rroater,) the 
compromise measures, includin;; a hill for the very purposes ol' this hill 
whieli excites your ''deep ahiiorrence." Mr. Wehstj-r was suj)porlefl in 
this hy scv(>ral Northern Whii:: StMiators and Representatives, and hy 
the A'ico PresidcMit himselt", who had always hefoic heon known as a 
steadfast enemy to slavery, and an ardent friend to its aholition wher- 
ever it could he reached. All those "changed front " on this (piestion, as 
promptly and mechanically as thoujrh they had heon a well-drilled hat- 
talion, actiniij on a parade day under the orders of then- commanding 
oflicor. What next? Gonorai Taylor dies, antl Mr. I-'illmore he(!onfes 
President. Me makes Mr. Wehstor his prime minister, thus, heibre the 
Country, cndors-ini^ his opinions and eonfirmin^^ his acts. Even Mr. 
Corwin, who had opposed the "onmihus *' in the Senate, glides smoothly 
into tho Cabinet, iaces "to the right about," and all join hands to crush 
the proviso, and roll the omnil)US ;n triumph through the halls of Con- 
gress. And it icas rolled through, like a triumphal car, by aid of Whig 
votes induced by them in its favor. Even such Whie;s as General Wil- 
son, of New Hampshire, a man who had. in the llou^e of Ro])rosenta- 
tives, alter advocoiinir the jiroviso as the only means of preventing the 
extension of slavery in the Territories, said: 

" If the alternative should be presented to h'm of the extension of slavery, or the dissolution of 
the Union, /ic would saj', let thd Union, aye, ihe Universe be dissolved. IVever, noer," said h«5, 
" will I raise my hand or my voice to give a N<itc l>y which slavery can or may be extended. A» 
God is my judge, I cannot, I will not, be moved from the purpose I have now announced." 

Even such a W hig as he, came up with a ready " aye " for all the bills 
of settlement, including this act oi" " ahhotTcnce.'^ How do tho pro/rs- 
sions of the Whig party of the North made in IS IS, when they wished to 
elect a President, tally with their practices in ISfiO, when he was elected ? 
Look at the public meetings which have ])een held all over New Eng- 
land, in New York. Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the North, at which 
prominent and distinguished men of that party, old proviso anti-slavery 
men. have come forward to support acts for Territorial governments 
M'ithout the proviso, and this act which stirs up in you such "deep ab- 
horrence!'' Where stand Stuart. (Tillespie. Pi'd<oring, and others. Whig 
members of our own Legislature, who voted the proviso instruetions ? 
I doubt not that ere this letter reaches you, a vote will be taken in the 
Legislature again, and you will see the great mass of the members of 
that party repudiate their own resolution. Look at the election of Mr. 
Eliot in the Boston district. He ^vas among the first to approve the 
changed course of ]\Ir. Webster, and on that approval was elected to 
Congress from Boston, the strong hold of al>olitionism. He, too, voted 



for this ahharred law. Am I right, then, in supposing that a change has 
been goins- on in the public mind, or the miiul of that great party? Or 
are these acts and professions in dellance of the general senl iment of that 
party ? I believe that such a. change has taken phix;e — that it is still 
going on — and if a test could be had, 1 believe it would show that nine- 
tenths, aye, nineteen-twentieths of the men at the North entertain 
opinions directly opposed to yours. 

But perhaps you will point to my defeat at the late election in Illinois, as 
evidence ihat a change has been going on the other way. But how is it? 
Was not the late election the first time since the district was organized, 
that the Abolitionists had not a candidate of their own in the field ? 
Have they become so feeble that they cannot again raise a candidate 
for Congress in the Seventh district ? Or did my opponent sufilciently 
answer their purposes ? Did the Abolitionists go over to the Whig 
party, or did the Whig party, candidate and all, go over to them ? How 
was it ? In 1848 you polled 712 votes in the district for Mr. Tan Buren, 
while at the same election, your vote added to the Whig majority, left 
the Democrats in a minority of 2,19S votes; and yet, though I voted for 
this abhorj-ed l/ill and the other measures of adjustment, and h.id opposed 
to me the Abolitionists and the whole Whig party — knowing themselves 
in a large majority, smarting under their former defeat, with a perfect 
organization, with their candidate long in the field, at work, on the 
stump, with no one to oppose him — notwithstanding all this, I, having but 
a few days to spend in the cause, and having to fight a gang of personal 
enemies and base political traitors in my own party, (to say nothing of 
the diminished vote caused by a violent tempest on the day of the elec- 
tion, which gave to the large towns where the Whig majorities nearly 
equal that in the entire district, a decided advantage over the people 
living in the country at places remote from the polls.) yet for all this and 
much more that I might name, I was defeated by a smaller Whig ma- 
jority than that party ever before gave in the district. Whether the 
gentleman elected will prove any more satisfactory to you than myself, 
time will sliow. 

But you denounce the fugitive slave bill — why ? Is it not solely be- 
cause it enables the master to repossess himself of his runaway ? Is not 
this the sole cause of your objection? If not, it would seem that some 
modification or amendment might remove your objections. But no ; 
there must be "an immediate and unconditional repeal." Perhaps the 
law interferes with your employment. Perhaps you have stock in some 
underground railroad, which has suffered depre(;iation, and is below par 
in consequence of this law. If so, you had better sell out and abandon 
the business, more especially i( you can get back what the investment 
cost you — ijour moral and political honesty. 

You say you think the law is "a violation of the law of God." You 
are, I believe, a professed clergyman ; but I fear you have studied Abo- 
lition fanatical newspapers and pamphlets more than your Bible. Y^ou 
think it "a violation of the Constitution of your country and State." 
What the constitution of n Slate has to do with the law of Congress, 
passed in pursuance of the Constitution of t/ie. J'nitcd States, it is not for 
me to inquire. But the remark vhows that you have studied the Consti- 



9 

tution of our cnnntry as lifflt' a>^ you liavr thf laws of HikI. I lieliove 
you know vory little ol'eillirr. 

Now, sir, your intentions vitnj he very ^'ood in all this, hut I retrret 
that I have not charity enoii<i;li to l)«'lieve it ; and if they were, it \h nn 
old adage, that "hell is j)aved with gfMxl intentions." And it is my 
private opinion expressed to you eoiifidentially, that such intentions n.s 
yours are Ix^tfer lifted lf)r that use tlian any other. Why, sir, this law 
would not have heen needed or thoii<;ht of, hut for sueh iiumi as yoti. 
You have made it necessary, and you are responsihie for if. Think of 
that awhile. Ytun* ohjection to the law is an ohjection to the ('onsiitu- 
tion. It declares that "no person held to service or lahor, in one State, 
under tiio laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of 
any law or regulation therein, he discharged from such service or la- 
bor, hut shall he delivered up on claim ol" the party to wliom such ser- 
vice or lahor may he due." The law of 17()S was jjassed to give elfi- 
ciency lo this provision, 'ihat htir was passed hy Northern votes. The 
North had majorities at that time in* holh Houses of Congress; and in 
both Houses, but seven negative votes were given on its passatre. There 
were members of the House of Ilepresentatives and mernbej-s of the 
Senate at that time, who had heen members of the Covention which 
formed the Constitution, mid they all, either by their recorded or passive 
votes, went for the law. It received the signature ot Washintrton, who 
had been President of the Convention which formed the Constitution, 
and may reasonably be presumed to know sometliing of its meaning. 
It has been sustained by ttie !Suj)reme Court of the I'nited States. But 
you are wiser than all, and pronounce a bill, similar to that in charac- 
ter in many respect;*, dilfering only in minor details, to be unconstitu- 
tional. \'erily "the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser 
than the children of light." Even the ordnance of 17S7, in praise of 
which, the Abolitionists forget that we have a Constitution, contains a 
similar provision. The first part of the Gth article is constantly in your 
mouths. Now, let us read the whole of it. Here it is: 

•' AiiT. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor inv(llunlar^• ser\itinlc in the said territory, other- 
wise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party kIiuU have been duly convicteil; provided 
always, thai any person escaping into the same from whom Ltbor or service is lawfully claimed 
in any one of the original Slates, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the 
person claiming his or her labor or service aforesaid.^' 

Here it is, older than the Constitution, in the immortal ordinance of 
seventeen hundred and eighty-seven. Are you for obeying it, or not ? 
You live on the soil over which that ordinance was extende*!. Are you 
man enough to stand up and sa}' you will abide by it, in all its provis- 
ions, in good faith ? No, you are not. Now, sir, make no lonjrer con- 
cealment ; come out openly, and alike denounce ordinance. Constitution, 
and law. Acknowledge "the higher law" as the one by which alone 
you are to be governed, and for once assume your true position. We 
shall then know you for a man of mettle ol'the genuine Fred. Douglass 
stamp, and hereafter know where to find you. 



10 

But would you be content with the " immediate and unconditional 
repeal" of this law? Far iVoni it. It would only encourage you for 
new exploits. You wanted the proviso; you did not get it. Events 
have proved it a mischievous humbug, if that can be so called which 
brought such excitement with it, and such danger to the Union. Had 
that been passed you would have been stimulated to more violent 
contests. Now you want this "late fugitive slave law" repealed. 
Suppose that done, what next? The law of 1793 must go with it. 
Then what / Why, the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- 
bia. But would that satisfy you? Not by a great deal. Then the 
internal slave trade must be prohibited, and forthwith the yell would 
be raised, "Remodel the Constitution, and strike out the clause that 
allows slaves to be rated at three-fifths of their numbers in the basis of 
representation ;" and then, to finish the work, abolish slavery by a law 
of Congress, and make it felony for any citizen to hold a negro in ser- 
vitude. Already it is maintained by many of your Abolition scribblers 
that Congress has power to do it now, under the Constitution. But 
how long will it take to get two-thirds of the States free, and amend 
the Constitution? The States stand now 15 slave to 10 y7Te. Dela- 
ware will soon be a free State, and then they will stand 14 to 17. 
Then comes Minesota, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico, making two- 
thirds of the whole, without including the Nebraska, the Yellowstone, 
and the Mandan country. There is ample room for a dozen new States 
out of our vast unsettled domain. The free States will soon have the 
numerical strength to vote these things. But would voting them accom- 
plish the work? Think you the South would submit? I would despise 
her myself if she would. The fact that the North is rapidly gaining the 
power 1o do these things, so far as they may be done by their votes, 
throw upon the people of the North the responsihility of the Union. Upon 
them, more than ever, will depend its perpetuity. If they value it, they 
will look well and see that the rights of the South are untouched, and 
that the Constitution is preserved and administered in its purity, not 
simply in its letter, but in its spirit. For one, I shall resist all attempts 
to disturb these questions. I shall resist them always, whether in pub- 
lic or private life, whether I may be acting with a victorious majority, 
or overborne and crushed by numbers. While I have a voice to speak 
or strength to act, it shall be exerted to thwart the nefarious schemes 
of political abolitionists, disunionists, and traitors. But the day of their 
power and their glory has passed. I believe there are Union-loving, 
law-abiding men in all parts of the land, each in their respective quar- 
ters, to render nugator}-, to dissipate all such heretical and hellish de- 
signs. 

You assert in your letter that " five-sixths of all the voters in this 
(your) region will sign this petition, including every good, and honest, 
and religious man in the community." Now, sir, I am not extensively 
acfjuainted in Woodford County — not so much as I wish I was — yet I 
venture the opinion that your statement is not correct. I have formed 
a high opinion of the people of that county, and I believe they are 
as "good, honest, and religious" as the people of any county in Illinois 
or elsewhere. 1 think I know men there, whose goodness, whose hon- 



11 

esty, and whose relifrion will not ho (|UPStioiio<l hy any oim except 
yourself, who would never j)uf their names to siieh a doeuinerit. I 
know, too, that I received !!•() iiKijority in that county, when and where it 
was well known that I had voterl lor this very hill, and where I declared 
in the canvass, in apuhlic s|)eeeh in the court-house, that I should stand 
hy it lirinly and in good faith. I think, sir, you slander the j)e(.ple of 
your county, and I challenge you to get live-sixths of all the voters 
there to sign your incendiary missile. Do if, sir, or acknowledge that 
you have told what is not true. I douht whether t/tni can get one- 
sixth of them to sign it, or even one twenty-sixth, if tin- matter were 
properly stated to them, and tiiey were governed hy tlieir calm judg- 
ments and deliherate oj)inions. 

I know that there is a large i)()pulati(tn of intelligent and indiisiriou.s 
Germans in Woodford county, and that an extraordinary etiort wfis 
made, in the late election, to prejudice their minds against me, and 
draw otr their votes. It did not succed. They understand the Consti- 
tution of our country hetter tlian you do. They are cool, reflecting 
men, who act not Irom impulse, hut from judgmerit. They have come 
to our country, and to one of its most heautiful portions, to make their 
homes — to enjoy in peace and luippiness the fruits of their honest lahor 
— to rear up their children in knowledge and virtue, and make them 
fully worthy of the Repuhlic, of which they themselves are such useful 
citizens. They know that their safety, their peace and j)rosperity, de- 
pend upon the safety and permanency of the Union. Tfiey know that 
the etlorts w'hich you and your associates are making, would, if success- 
ful, shiver that Union to pieces, and involve them and their chosen 
country in war, bloodshed, and every dire calamity. They do not, with 
you, see domestic servitude in the AlVican race, as the only evil under 
the sun. They look upon this Government as having, under the Con- 
stitution, in the providence of God, a high mission to fulfil. They know 
that by its influence and example it has worked, and is still working, the 
elevation and advancement of the people, the millions, in their father- 
land, throughout Europe, and throughout the world. They know that 
in the wreck of the Constitution and the destruction of this Govern- 
ment they have no more chance to escape in safety, than have the in- 
habitants of a city upheaved by the convulsions of an eartlujuake. 
From motives of self-preservation, therefore, and if such motives are 
not strong enough, from impulses of duty, they will stand by the Con- 
stitution against any horde of fanatics that may attempt to assail, to 
impair, or destroy it. They come among us to uphold the Constitution, 
not to strike it cloini — to oheij the laws, not to violate them ; and you, sir, 
ought to 15LLSH FOR siiA.ME that you are so far behind them in patriotism 
and a just sense of duty. I know it is an easy matter to get names to 
petitions relating to ordinary matters. Men often sign them without 
thinking of their import, or the consequences of tiieir acts. Hut the 
Germans, not less than the other patriotic citizens of Woodford, will re- 
flect before they sign a petition of this character; and if you get live- 
sixths of their names to such a petition you will have to forge them. 

Now, sir, I voted for this law, not because I thought tiie Union would 
be dissolved if it did not pass, but because it was a law to enforce one 



12 

of the provisions of the Constitution, and a law which the Abolitionists 
of the North had rendered necessary. It is not precisely such a law as 
I would wish. I could suggest an amendment which would render it 
more eflicient, in my judgment, and meet the general approbation in all 
quarters. But this is not what you seek for. It is its " immediate and 
unconditional repeal."' This, permit me to say to you, you will never 
live to see, unless you outlive slavery itself, or the existence of this 
Union. And so long as your efforts are directed as they are, you will 
prevent any change from being made, however necessary and proper it 
may be. 

In conclusion, let me say, that if you should again find any of the citi- 
zens of your county who anxiously desire to continue this anti-slavery 
agitation by means of Abolition petitions, or petitions of the character 
of that I have been considering, I request you will not send them to me. 
You can send them to some of the higher law-yers in the House, whose 
names are sufficiently notorious as to require no insertion here ; sixty- 
eight of whom but a few days ago voted to receive a petition for the 
same purpose, which denounced the Constitution as an " unholy com- 
promise." 

THOMAS L. HARRIS. 












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